


Always Unexpected

by IcePrincesseExtraordinaire



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Slow Build, Smuff, Smut, not that slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-07-19
Packaged: 2018-03-11 11:04:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3325175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcePrincesseExtraordinaire/pseuds/IcePrincesseExtraordinaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy begrudgingly agrees to a favor for Jane and now finds herself on a not-double date with Jane, Thor, and Loki in a questioningly thought out plan to help repair the brothers' relationship. Maybe he's not as bad as he seems, only time will tell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story and I'm not entirely sure yet where I would like it to go. All mistakes are my own and all feedback is welcomed. Let me know what you think.  
> I intend to have this story take place after Thor: The Dark World, which will become clearer in the upcoming chapters.  
> And, of course, all Marvel characters belong to Marvel, not me.

After inputting the last few lines of data for Jane, Darcy was ready to call it a day. Her mind had been wandering to her sitting on her couch with some takeout and maybe a little bit of wine for the last couple hours now.

Shutting down her computer, she looked up to find Jane walking over to her with her guilty look firmly in place.

“I’m going to stop you right there, Foster. No more data input tonight for me.”

“What? Oh, no. I was just… what do you think about grabbing dinner tonight with Thor and I?”

“I’m feeling a pass, don’t really feel like playing the third wheel tonight. But thanks though.”

Darcy had been out with Thor and Jane, wonder couple extraordinaire, before and knows it’s not really something she's eager to revisit right now. As much as they might try to include her, they’re just so in love that she always winds up feeling like the one of those spare IKEA parts before the night is through. Don’t get her wrong, their relationship is totally sweet and beautiful…but a little much at times.

“But you won’t be, I promise! Thor is bringing someone along, it’ll be fun. Please, Darcy.”

“Jane Foster, are you trying to set me up again? Given your track record of failed attempts, I figured you would have put your matchmaking days behind you. No double date for me, I’m happy where I am. Your dedication is certainly touching though”

“I wouldn’t call it a double date really-“

“Uh-huh. Answer me this then: is this mystery person male?”

“Well, yeah-“

“That sounds quite a lot like a double date to me. Who is he bringing, Jane?”

“It’s…well, it’s Loki, but he’s not nearly as…abrasive as he was before! Staying in the tower has really seemed to tame him down a bit.”

“He’s not exactly tame, Jane, he just never speaks to anyone.”

“I know. Thor and I have invited him for dinner at our apartment since he only lives across the hall, but he always responds with the fewest words possible, if at all, and is ready to leave as early as he can. Thor has been really upset about it, he just wants the relationship they had before back.”

“That’s really sad actually.”

“So you’ll come?”

“Oh, I didn’t say that. If Loki won’t talk to you guys, what makes you think he’ll talk to me?”

“I’m not saying he will, but Thor has a good feeling about it. Maybe with another person there, he’ll…I don’t know. Not feel so pressured? Can’t hurt to try, right?”

“Well, you are talking about Loki: attempted subjugator of the **entire** planet. So, yes, it very much could hurt to try, Jane”

“Could you at least think about it? Even if it’s just while you’re packing up your things?

If she was being honest, it sounded like an awful idea. The kind of idea that could end the night with a very angry Loki. If his temper tantrum across a few realms was any indicator, he didn’t really like people keeping agendas from him. It also sounded to Darcy that she would be playing the part of Thor’s little pawn in this quest to getting Loki to open up. If he Loki ever found out, she didn’t see him taking too kindly to that.

She couldn’t really say no though, could she? Jane was her best friend, Jane loved Thor. So if this was important to Thor, it was important to Jane; she could do this for Jane. And besides when Thor was sad he was looked like the Asgardian equivalent of a kicked puppy, Darcy couldn’t be the cause of that.

“Fine.”

“Fine: you’ll think about it? Or fine: you’ll do it?”

“I’ll do it.”

“Oh, Darcy, thank you! Thor is going to be so excited.”

“Wow there, girly. You’ll be hearing my conditions first. One: this is a onetime deal, I’m not risking the wrath of the almighty Loki every time Thor gets all frowny-faced about their relationship. Two: If I feel an impending apocalypse about to rain down on our little dinner party, I’m bailing. No ifs, ands, or buts, lady. And three, don’t let Thor gets his hopes up too high.”

“Okay, yeah. You got it. Do you want to meet up at that little restaurant on the corner we were talking about last week? Say 7:30?”

“Sure, Jane. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting the hell out of this lab before you can talk me into doing anything else crazy.”

“Okay, thanks again, Darce. Thor’s really is going to appreciate this.”

“Uh-huh. Not getting our hopes up though, remember?

“Yeah, of course.”

“Mhm. I’ll see you in a bit, Jane.”

Grabbing her purse off the back of her chair, Darcy began her daily trip back to her apartment. As far as work commutes went, this one was easy-peasy. Just a quick elevator ride and a short hallway to the front door of her apartment in the higher levels of Stark Tower.

Just a few minutes later, Darcy was at her door and sliding the key into the lock. Now she had two and a half hours to mentally prepare herself for a dinner that was sure to be a disaster.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been quite some time since I posted the last chapter, my apologies. I had to finish up the college semester and ever since I've been working 60 hours a week. I got a couple hours off this morning though, so here we go. It's a pretty short chapter, it doesn't really progress the plot too much, but we get some background information for everything to make sense.  
> Please comment and tell me what you think!  
> And I plan on having the next chapter up way sooner...like I'm hoping a week. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

After Jane and Darcy had flown back to the States from Norway, they were met with the aftermath of what was now known as the Battle of New York, only to find that Thor had already left for home with a overpowered Loki in tow. Which then left Darcy the self-appointed care-taker of a very hurt and mopey astrophysicist who she consistently had to remind to eat and sleep at regular, human intervals. With a sudden relocation to Jane’s mother’s house in London, she found herself…well, still doing the exact same thing, but now she was surrounded by way fancier sounding accents.

Almost a year after his disappearance and several failed attempts to create a wormhole that could reach him, Darcy convinced Jane to take it easy and see if he would come to her. Jane was able to pick herself up again, even tried to start dating again, but then Thor laser-beamed himself on down to earth and all attempts at moving on where thrown right out the window. Darcy isn’t one to withhold credit where credit is due though, Jane totally slapped Thor for his little disappearing act. She’d never been prouder. But in Thor’s defense he did save her from possession via the Evil Red Glowy (or Aether as Jane kept insisting) and he claimed he had wanted to come back all along, but apparently mean Daddy Odin said no. Darcy could see that, he sounded like a total asshole. Even called Jane a goat. Rude.

Now Thor seems to be back for good and they’d all relocated back to New York so Thor was close to his fellow Avengers in case there was another baddy to be bested.

As to what the hell happened with Loki since the Battle of Manhattan…well, that she was less clear on. Apparently it went something like: Midgard, Asgard, ~~Svarhelhiem~~ ~~Svartelfhiem~~ Svartalfheim, Asgard, Midgard. And through all his realm-hoping and sightseeing he was pulverized and handcuffed, imprisoned, released, helped save the day, died, came back to life, committed treason by impersonating the king, and agreed to be an ally of the Avengers. What a rollercoaster. He could practically star in his own soap opera. He was definitely enough of a drama queen.

Now everyone is living in New York in Stark Tower due to the abundant wealth and hospitality of none other than Tony Stark himself. That’s right, Iron Man. Darcy still gets to work for Jane, but now with the benefit a paycheck. So while all the superheroes do whatever it is they do all day, Jane continues to try and build her very own stable Bifrost with Darcy at her side. Life has been good as of late. Although, living and working in the same building as the Wonder Couple and Prince of Darkness is exactly what landed in her little predicament.

                        ____________________________________________________________                       

A shower, two outfit changes, and a mental pep talk later and Darcy finds herself turning the corner to the restaurant, scolding herself to look calm and confident and not slow her steps. She finds her table along the far wall when she spots Thor’s Rapunzel-blond hair. And then realizes that the only empty chair will be placing her, not next to Loki like she had expected, but straight across from him. Which sounds better, in theory. It totally, totally isn’t though. Now she has to spend an entire meal with his stupidly handsome face directly in her line of vision and be expected not to embarrass herself in some way. _Yeah. Good luck, Lewis._

Thor is the first to notice her approach and begins to wave at her enthusiastically from his seat. Now every eye in the restaurant is trained on her. Well, except for Loki’s. His eyes remain staring steadfastly at his hands folded on the table top. When Darcy gets close enough, Jane pops out of her seat like bread from a toaster to give her a tight hug. Well any hopes Darcy had of escaping the gawking of others were just dashed to hell. At least their fellow diners now have fair warning as to what table will be making be making the biggest spectacle of themselves throughout the night. No turning back now, she seats herself next to Jane and blurts a quick, “hey, guys.” A response each of “hey” from Jane and Thor in return and a very brief moment of eye contact from Loki before he picks up his menu and effectively creates a wall between the two of them.

Splendid. _So the night was going great already._

“Brother, where are your manners? Lady Darcy has offered you a greeting. Will you not return the kindness?” _Not necessary, Thor._

The menu dropped down a bit and Loki’s gaze flew wide-eyed to Thor before his eyes narrowed in annoyance. He opened his mouth but was saved from responding, however, when the waitress wandered over a second later to take their order. As she left with their menus in hand an awkward silence descended over the table and Darcy was left with an unhindered view of Mr. Antisocial, who was busy staring at a point just over her shoulder while Thor’s eyes bounced from Darcy to Loki with a stupidly hopeful expression on his face. _Nope, not at all awkward._

With every passing second, Darcy was staring starting to feel increasingly awkward and fidgety. To distract her from her discomfort, she started fiddling with a sugar packet.

Leave it to Jane to save the day. Picking up on Darcy’s discomfort, she attempts to dissipate the dense fog of awkward currently enveloping their table. “Sooo. Darcy, what’s new?” _Valiant effort, Jane. Valiant effort._

“You mean since I last saw you at work two hours ago? Not much, Jane.”

“Oh, right. Um… “

Thor finally averts his attention from the Darcy and Loki Show long enough to flash the waitress a smile as she places his food in front of him. And silence descends again as they begin to eat.

Both brothers are wearing their preference for casual earth clothes today to blend with the humans. For Thor, that entailed jeans and work boots paired with a plaid button up over a plain black T-shirt and Mjolnir on placed at his feet. Because a mythical, almighty weapon couldn’t possibly tip anybody off that the lumber jack with four human-sized servings of food crowded in front of him miiiiight be something other than your average human. _Stealth accomplished._ Loki, on the other hand, is dressed in well-fitting dark wash jeans and a casually snug button down, which, in a shocking turn of events, was green. Accessorizing it all is a unique little bracelet wrapped tight around the bones of his right wrist. Comprised of a thin band of black leather held together by a little gold serpent in “S” formation; if you looked quickly, it could almost pass for an infinity bracelet. She’d noticed the bracelet before tonight, he was always wearing it. A couple months back, she’d overheard Thor telling Jane that the bracelet had been a gift from Papa Odin himself and how it somehow was restricting his magic and could even track him if need be.

Whops. How long had she been staring at him now? She’d definitely been staring at the bracelet for too long. Time to look away before he realized.

It was too late though, Loki’s eyes were already narrowed and locked on her face. _Good work, Lewis_. _Just don’t look at him! Whatever you do, Lewis, don’t look! Look anywhere but the face! Dammit, you looked._ She couldn’t look away now, her eyes were transfixed on his and she could feel her cheeks heating. _How are his eyes so pretty? Totally unfair._

From her peripheral she caught Jane was ~~wildly~~ subtly gesticulating in Loki’s direction while dramatically clearing her throat to get Thor’s attention away from his mountain of food.

The surrounding tables began glancing over as Jane’s arm waving became harder to ignore. And finally Thor glanced up from his bacon and noticed the staring match currently going on to his right. A moment of planning passed and he loudly proclaimed, “Brother, this bacon is quite delicious is it not?” _What the actual fuck, Thor. What was that?_

Blinking his eyes away from Darcy and over to Thor, Loki sits back in his chair with a sigh, “Oh, do shut up.”


End file.
